{"id":2743,"date":"2023-03-21T15:18:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T15:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardencourtmediation.co.uk\/?p=2743"},"modified":"2023-03-21T18:13:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T18:13:33","slug":"possession-claims-mediation-pilot-re-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardencourtmediation.co.uk\/possession-claims-mediation-pilot-re-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Possession Claims Mediation Pilot Re-thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this blog David Watkinson <\/a>considers the review of the Mediation Pilot which had been put in place to deal with possession claims post-pandemic.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the Beginning<\/em><\/p>\n

On 22nd February 2023, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published the Rental Mediation Service Pilot-Post Implementation Review<\/a>. The Pilot had been run in the county courts between February and October 2021. Part, at least, of the thinking, following the lifting of Covid restrictions on the processing of possession claims, was that there would be an avalanche of hearings and that diversion to mediation would reduce the resulting pressure on the courts. Some 10, 000 referrals to mediation with a success rate of 3,000 were estimated.<\/p>\n

In the event only 22 claims were referred to mediation and in\u00a0 only 9 of those did mediation take place. Only 4 mediations were successful, in the sense that agreements were reached, although we are not told, naturally, what those agreements were and one of them was not acted on by the county court possibly because it could not lawfully constitute a court order.<\/p>\n

No effort to sugar the pill can disguise the failure of this exercise. So what lessons can be learned? Identifying those could, at least, save something from the wreck, particularly as ADR\/mediation has been so enthusiastically promoted by members of the judiciary (especially the current Master of the Rolls) and sections of the mediation world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What on earth went wrong?<\/em><\/p>\n

A number of factors are identified by the Review, some particular to the effect of the pandemic. In considering the others it is best to bear in mind that the possession claims involved were mostly set in the private rented sector, largely resulting from rent arrears and concerned many where the court was obliged to grant a possession order to the landlord, provided procedural requirements were met, as the tenancies were Assured Shortholds (s21 Housing Act 1988 as amended by the Housing Act 1996).<\/p>\n

Principally, those factors were:-<\/p>\n